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ALDRIDGE**, ALAN: : The PEACOCK PARTY: A SEQUEL TO THE BUTTERFLY BALL and the GRASSHOPPER'S FEAST.** [Author SIGNED+doodled copy.]

LONDON.JONATHAN CAPE Ltd.,1979.

ISBN 0224015915.

UK,slim Qrto HB,no dw/dj,as issued,illustrator SIGNED, illustrated 1st edn. NFINE. No owner inscrptn but author's neat,handwritten black ink signature with an additional small drawing of a spider dangling from the last letter of his signature to the title page.Bright,crisp,clean, sharp-cornered,glossy laminated,colour pictorial illustrated boards; with capitalised,coloured and capitalised,black-lettered illustrators and author credits to faux invitation card illustration to front board; a white spine/ backstrip with capitalised coloured title, illustrators coloured surnames and publisher's b/w illustrated colophon to foot of same,rear board without illustration other than a yellow decorative border.Negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners with a miniscule bump+reciprocal creases at head of spine,some inevitable but minimal,superficial age-acquired scoring/indents and immaculate grey silhouetted illustrated endpapers with no hinge cracking to same.Top+ fore-edges bright,crisp and clean; contents bright,tight and clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine (illustrator's  signature aside) - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips.UK,slim Qrto HB, no dw/dj - as issued, illustrator SIGNED,illustrated 1st edn,28pp [unpaginated] includes colour vignetted title page with illustrator's doodled signature, 11 full-colour,full-page illustrations and the 12th illustration as a double-page fold-out by both Alan Aldridge and Harry Willock.  Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional and particularly internally,is also in an exceptional condition/ state of preservation and presentation,for a book of its 45 year-old age and nature, i.e a child's book.It really is an exceptional copy for its cleanliness,brightness and lack of detracting faults.                   Based on 'The Peacock 'At Home' by A Lady (1807),and a sequel to 'The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast', verses written by George E. Ryder.Written as a sequel for those not invited to the Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast,and the continuation of sequels with 'The Lion's Cavalcade'.   Alan Aldridge (active from c.1967).Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.Attended Romford Technical College but left at 15 and supported himself with an assortment of jobs including insurance clerk,repertory actor,dock hand and barrow boy.In 1963,he took a short evening course in commercial graphics.Soon,he had achieved spectacular success with designs for posters,book covers,record sleeves,car,furniture and body painting,as well as magazine and book illustration.In 1966,he was appointed art director of Penguin books,but left in 1968 to set up his own studio,Ink,which received commissions from many of the leading pop groups and glossy magazines of the day,including the Beatles' ill-fated Apple Corps.  As Aldridge's career embodied many of the aspirations of the 'swinging sixties', so his drawing epitomised the graphic idiom of the decade.His use of brilliant 'psychedelic' colours in combination with ebulliently decorative draughtsmanship gave his work the vigorous popular appeal of fairground art; but he used this apparently unsophisticated language to convey ideas of almost surrealist complexity, abounding in visual ambiguities,allusions and jokes.Stylistically his most influential innovation was his use of the airbrush for fine colour graduation and shading over much of the picture surface,giving the illusion of undulating movement within the crisp contours.As his draughtsmanship developed,he increasingly incorporated graaphic references to cultural traditions as diverse as oriental painting and pre-Columbian art,while his imagery continued to invite closer and more intense scrutiny.After disbanding Ink, Aldridge continued to work freelance,finding a regular publisher in Jonathan Cape.In 1974,he won the Children's Book of the Year Award with 'Butterfly Ball'; and latterly he has designed animated films. Died 17th February,2017. Please contact seller,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item, for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!  N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.    ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,slim Qrto HB,no dw/dj,as issued,illustrator SIGNED,illustrated 1st edn.
Illustrator SIGNED+doodled.

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